An Early Look at the 2022-23 Detroit Red Wings Roster

With the NHL Trade Deadline less than four weeks away, it’s a good time to review what the Detroit Red Wings have in the way of signed players for 2022-2023.  Currently, the Red Wings have filled 47/50 contracts, so there are important decisions that will have to be made to secure the future of the franchise.  At the end of this season, Detroit will only have 24 players under contract.

NOTE: (all salary information obtained from capfriendly.com)

Signed through 2022-2023

Forwards

The Detroit Red Wings currently have 14 forwards under contract for next season.  This includes three players currently playing for Grand Rapids in the AHL.

Detroit currently have five forwards signed past 2023.  For now, these players will be the foundational future of the Red Wings.  These forwards include Jakub Vrana, Robby Fabbri, Michael Rasmussen, Lucas Raymond, and Jonatan Berggren.

Detroit currently have four forwards who will be UFA’s after the 2022-2023 season.  Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi will likely be re-signed and the Red Wings will build their next playoff team around this duo and the five forwards signed for more than one season.  Pius Suter and Adam Erne will likely be traded prior to the deadline in March 2023.

Dylan Larkin

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $6,100,000

Jakub Vrana

Status: UFA after 2023-2024

Salary: $5,250,000

Tyler Bertuzzi

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $4,750,000

Robby Fabbri

Status: UFA after 2024-2025

Salary: $4,000,000

Pius Suter

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $3,250,000

Adam Erne

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $2,100,000

Michael Rasmussen

Status: RFA after 2023-2024

Salary: $1,460,000

Lucas Raymond

Status: RFA after 2023-2024

Salary: $925,000

Jonatan Berggren

Status: RFA after 2023-2024

Salary: $925,000

Joe Veleno

Status: RFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $894,167

Givani Smith

Status: RFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $750,000

Luke Witkowski

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $750,000

Kyle Criscuolo

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $750,000

Goaltenders

The Detroit Red Wings currently have two goaltenders under contract for next season.  This includes Sebastian Cossa who is currently playing for Edmonton in the WHL.

Alex Nedeljkovic

Status: UFA after 2022-2023

Salary: $3,000,000

Sebastian Cossa

Status: RFA after 2023-2024

Salary: $925,000

UFA’s

The Detroit Red Wings currently have 13 players under contract who will become UFA’s at the end of the season.  This includes four players currently in Grand Rapids (AHL).  Detroit will have $25,475,000 in extra cap space once these players are granted free agency.

Out of the 13 UFA’s this summer, the most likely to return to Detroit are Sam Gagner and Vladislav Namestnikov.  Gagner likely isn’t going to be moved at the deadline and similar to last summer, will most likely sign a one year extension to be a bottom-six forward, penalty killer and veteran presence on and off the ice.

Namestnikov will most likely be traded prior to the deadline.  He has been a top-six scoring forward for Detroit all season and is versatile in that he can play all three forward positions.  Namestnikov will test the free agency market, but could be re-signed when the free agency period begins again in July.

The most likely players that Detroit will cut loose are veterans Danny DeKeyser and Carter Rowney.  At this point in their careers, both players provide nothing more than depth and would no longer fit into the mold of players needed to make a run at the playoffs.

Nick Leddy

2021-2022 Contract: $5,500,000

Danny DeKeyser

2021-2022 Contract: $5,000,000

Thomas Greiss

2021-2022 Contract: $3,600,000

Vladislav Namestnikov

2021-2022 Contract: $2,000,000

Marc Staal

2021-2022 Contract: $2,000,000

Troy Stecher

2021-2022 Contract: $1,700,000

Sam Gagner

2021-2022 Contract: $850,000

Dan Renouf

2021-2022 Contract: $850,000

Carter Rowney

2021-2022 Contract: $825,000

Riley Barber

2021-2022 Contract: $800,000

Calvin Pickard

2021-2022 Contract: $800,000

Ryan Murphy

2021-2022 Contract: $800,000

Brain Lashoff

2021-2022 Contract: $750,000

RFA’s

The Detroit Red Wings currently have seven players under contract who will become RFA’s at the end of the season.  This includes four players currently in Grand Rapids (AHL), and one goaltender in Europe.  These players currently have NHL salaries that total just over $5.7M.  In order to retain all of these players, their new contracts will likely require an increase in salary.  Detroit may also decide that some of these contracts will not be extended.

Filip Zadina

2021-2022 Contract: $894,167

Chase Pearson

2021-2022 Contract: $874,125

Taro Hirose

2021-2022 Contract: $850,000

Filip Larsson

2021-2022 Contract: $836,666

Victor Brattstrom

2021-2022 Contract: $817,500

Mitchell Stephens

2021-2022 Contract: $737,500

Kaden Fulcher

2021-2022 Contract: $733,333